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The House of Fiends
Each of these entities, prior to the fall of Shandu, was regarded as godlike or at least demigodlike. Now, since the fall, they have changed fundamentally - something has altered whatever divinity these individuals possessed into something ineffably horrible, preying upon what lives they can find. The Most Accursed Fiends of Shandu Khamidoon the Scribe The Lurker in Darkness Once regarded as the Midnight Vizier, the Black Counsel, or the Speaker in Darkness, this creature once existed as an eerie presence that would fill a dark corner of a room, speaking calmly and peacefully of wise choices. It was once known to lend wisdom to every prince and satrap of the principality, creeping into their studies at night to discuss matters concerning them. Those rare individuals able to see the creature with any clarity describe it as a pale, dark-haired figure of indeterminate sex or species. Now, the Lurker exists as a black cloud, sometimes stealing people away into whatever midnight realm from which it came, sometimes opening many of its countless eyes and whispering dark plans for dark deeds to people. The Lurker has never been known to take direct action. The Deep Echo, Utnapush Utnapush was once the Tidelord, a calendar god of the movements of the moons and the elevation of watery bodies. He was said to ride a chariot of sea life - porpoises and coral - along the aqueducts leading into the canyon periodically, dispensing wisdom and sciences brought from his observations and lunar palaces. In the reservoirs, aqueducts, and waters of Shandu dwells the Deep Echo, an abominable amalgam of Utnapush and his many living chariots. Rare stories exist of the torso of an aphotic blue man with ringleted beard surfacing from the water and imploring travellers to flee. Some include an additional detail - his gesticulation became too emphatic and he surfaced further, revealing his body to be a hornlike protrusion from the brow of a great sea creature and accompanying his pleas with frantic high-pitched ululations. The Eternal Watchers In its heyday, the Kisch Scholarly Enclave had an additional claim to fame beyond its status as a seat of learning and education and the site in which all scrivening was taught: It was home to a metamind of immortals. The Eternal Watchers sit eternally in a circle around a great well and beneath a great oculus, meditating upon the nature of their own eternity and speaking as one to those seeking their wisdom. Little is known of the Watchers now. What effect, if any, the curse falling upon Shandu has had upon them is unknown. The Still Host, The Inscribed Knights The Inscribed Knights were a product of Khamidoon - mute and ardent defenders of Shandu. In their prime, they stood clad in gleaming brass and graven in intricate phrases ensuring a level of awareness and deathlessness to them, watching over places and people of import. They were believed to have been created from one human volunteer, who was built into a lighthouse-like brass tower capped with a brilliant blue light, and whose influence was carried across Shandu to the host Knights by a sequence of smaller towers. Now, they stand or lie mostly inert, their armour corroded, burned, scored. Those who yet stand are hostile to all life they witness. Those who have been defeated are yet capable of fighting, and will rise to assault others if provoked. Those outside of areas of tower influence are known to move more slowly and clumsily than those closer to the Still Towers. The Blood-Baron, Mag-Remibti Mag-Remibti was once renowned as the Wizard Watcher, the scholarly parent-entity of all of Shandu's magical learnings - so noteworthy in her pursuit of magic and more and more complex magical arts that she eschewed all names but her caste-honorific and given name. Which Magauna family she belonged to is a mystery lost to time, though all claim lineage to her to some degree - or did, as these days they are cautious in making such assertions. Mag-Remibti, it is said, never trusted Khamidoon. She sought to use her various sorceries to stymy the descent of the dismal fog upon Shandu in that awful moment, and to prevent the realm itself from shattering. The effort was partially successful, but the shattering of place and the spreading blight of death were taken in by Mag-Remibti and transformed. She is unique among the cursed realm, for she is the only creature not truly cursed by Khamidoon's devices - hers is truly her own. Now called the Blood-Baron, Mag-Remibti is said to lair within her former palazzo in the Forbidden City. Her affinity with blood seems to be tied to the curse she engineered as a matter of stabilizing and isolating her domain. Rhaburani the Beast Rhaburani in happier times was the enlightened goddess of warfare, a calm and collected entity known for her aptitude at coordinating troop movements and logistics. She would reveal herself to certain of Shandu's generals and commandeer their armies, delivering a certain and overwhelming victory, and then vanish once more. In the last days of Shandu, Rhaburani appeared, rallying much of the principality's armies to a direct assault on Khamidoon's sanctum. Being so close to the epicentre of the greater curse of the realm changed her far more than it did most - she was last seen physically changing, tearing into her own soldiers and devouring them. Category:Figures of legend Category:Accursed Creatures